Lawmakers want to export U.S. broilers to China, and drought is helping liquidate the cattle herd. Meanwhile, dietary fat is in fashion again while still out of favor in the policy world. Chicken to China U.S. beef is headed to China with rice possibly soon following, and progress is being made to bring Chinese chicken into the U.S. Now some lawmakers want China to also take U.S. chicken, which has been banned since Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) was discovered in layer and turkey flocks. Although it was not found among broilers, the ban was nevertheless imposed. A total 28 lawmakers wrote to USDA Secretary Perdue asking that the process of trade normalization and veterinary equivalency reviews be expedited so that exports from...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...